From GregB: XVI Legion Moritat - Horus Heresy

"Moritat" in the colours of the XVI Legion Astrates - the Sons of Horus.

The wait for a vaccine continues in Northern Ontario. Hopefully it won't be much longer. So here is some more painting to share. This is a 28mm Space Marine "Moritat", painted in the colours of the XVIth Legion Astrates, known as the "Sons of Horus", part of GW's "Horus Heresy" setting. This is a resin figure from Forge World...which is part of GW, but still separate...or something...I really don't get that, but I digress.

Guns drawn, ready to fire...and the helmet of a previous victim lying on the base...

So what is a "Moritat"? Well, the "Horus Heresy" was a giant civil war which tore the Imperium apart. Space Marine Legions fought against Space Marine Legions, and the fighting caused the odd Space Marine here and there to crack up a bit, the nature of the conflict being such that it wrecked the careful mental/psychological conditioning/programming that was part of their creation. While still physically fit, such mentally damaged Marines could no longer be fully relied upon to fight effectively as part of their units, and so were pulled from the battle line. The Legions would never "waste" an asset, however - a Space Marine is still a Space Marine...and so such mentally fractured Marines are made in "Moritats", and sent to battle as one-man armies. Not suicide missions per se...just loners at the fringe of the battle plan. If they survive, great. If not...well, they will still have cause serious issues for the enemies of the Legion.

The cabling is a pain the @ss...some crude "green stuff" repairs were needed - I've got no skill using "green stuff", but you have to start somewhere? Practice is practice.

The Moritat seen here wears Mark IV power armour, with extra plating. He has fancy special guns - they are dangerous to use, but whatever - this guy is going into battle on his own, so who cares, right? He is equipped with a jump pack to get close to the enemy as fast as he can and start shooting. He has a variety of extra targeting kit to help his shots land more accurately.

For the Warmaster!

It has been almost a year since I last painted some 30k figures, and it was fun to dig into the packing crate and pull out some figures like this one. It has been waiting for paint for just over a year - I first assembled it during my previous burst of 30k output, in spring last year. There was a particular challenge with this figure - the cables running from the weapons to the backpack of the armour. Resin features like this are not easy to assemble, and even with careful use of hot water etc. the cables can break because they need to be bent/turned into position. That happened here, requiring "green stuff" to be used for repairs on one of the cables. I have almost NO experience using "green stuff" to do anything, so my repair execution was pretty crude...but it still worked enough to get the figure into the line.

Thanks for reading everyone - hope you are well!